Dye lasers are usually, either transversely pumped or longitudinally pumped to provide a dye laser output. Commonly the dye solution to be pumped by a pumping laser beam is contained in a cell. Depending upon the characteristics of the pumping beam in terms of its energy and duration and the desired output, the dye cell may take on various configurations. In situations where high energy and high repetition rates are used in pumping a dye laser cell, circulation of dye through the cell is required and in some situations instead of pumping a dye solution in a cell, as circulated therethrough, the dye may be exposed to the radiation as passed therethrough in the form of a stream, in the manner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,941. Alternatively, the dye to be pumped may be contained in a cell as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,488.
Advances have been made in ultrashort cavities for dye lasers as disclosed in H. Salzmann and H. Strohwald, Physics Letter 57a (1976) 41 report. The dye cell has a mirrored rear surface and a prism for the front face with spacers separating the mirror from the prism to define a very narrow cavity. Such dye cells usually require disassembly when it is desired to change the dye solution. In view of their size, this can be extremely difficult to accomplish.
The dye cell holder, according to this invention, substantially facilitates the use of sealed thin fragile dye cells which are now commonly used to obtain shortened laser beam outputs in a manner, as discussed in my copening U.S. patent application Ser. No. 272,772, filed June 11, 1981.